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The year was 1896 and the country of Zanzibar was a protectorate of the British Empire.
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Britain had installed a 'puppet' Sultan named Hamad bin Thuwaini to lead the region,
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a man that supported British interests there. On August 25th, he bit the dust, and it was
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widely thought that he'd been poisoned by his cousin, the man that stepped into his shoes.
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To say the least, the Brits were a little bit peeved about this and the new man in
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charge knew that, so he ordered an armed Royal Yacht to get ready for a fight. He
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also sent 3,000 soldiers and a few artillery guns to the harbor to prepare for battle.
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In those days the British had quite the formidable military, and before you could say,
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“Do you fancy a cuppa tea, mate”, two massive war ships had destroyed the artillery,
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the palace, and had taken out about 500 soldiers. The war lasted a grand total of 38 minutes,
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making it the shortest war in history. The countries you are going to hear about today
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might have fared just as badly as Zanzibar if they got into a war with a military powerhouse,
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but we'll let you decide just how well they'd do. 10. El Salvador
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The South American nation has a surprisingly large budget for being on this list,
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at around $165 million. That might sound like a lot, but it's not so much when you
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consider the New York Police Department had a budget of $5.6 billion that year. It also had
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55,304 people working for it. El Salvador on the other hand only has 35,000 soldiers,
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and 10,000 of those guys and gals are reserves. The country has some fighter aircraft,
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bought from the USA around the time the first Star Wars movie hit the theaters,
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and you could say the same about its helicopters. As for artillery and
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armored cars, some of that hardware dates back to the second world war. In the sea,
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El Salvador has only three patrol boats so there's not much happening there.
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This is not a modern military by any means, but you might ask if it needs to be. The
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country hasn't seen many conflicts of late. Back in the 50s when the U.S. was talking
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about “Reds Under the Bed” and was paranoid that communism was going to catch-on in many nations,
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it supplied El Salvador weapons to thwart an uprising if one happened.
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In 1969, there was the Football War with Honduras, and from 1979 to 1992 there was
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the Salvadoran Civil War. These days the military spends most of its time fighting organized crime,
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drug trafficking outfits that no doubt have a much bigger budget than the armed forces.
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Our next country was an ancient military power house, but not so much today...
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9. North Macedonia (formerly just Macedonia) Hang on a second, you're thinking, wasn't like
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one of the greatest military men in history from this country. Surely it hasn't gone that
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downhill. Well, things have changed a lot since Alexander the Great was taming wild horses on the
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plains and dreaming about his future empire. Right now, the country only has 8,000 active
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personnel and another 5,000 in the reserves. That's not so many people,
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but hey, what are you gonna do with a military budget of 108 million dollars.
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Still, it has a much better reputation than the military we put at number ten. It might be small,
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but the North Macedonia military has seen plenty of action in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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It has some armored vehicles and towed artillery, but most of those have seen better days and
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wouldn't stand out in an episode of MASH. The country has no navy to speak of and while
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it has some helicopters and small pilot trainer planes, it doesn't have any attack planes.
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Next is another country with a shockingly large budget,
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but still a weak military. 8. Namibia
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Namibia actually has quite a large budget compared to the country we've just talked about,
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and that is a whopping $505 million. The country has a population of around 2.7
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million, but it also has a massive desert. That's why it's known as one of the least
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densely populated countries in the world. Out of those people, 10,000 of them work in the military.
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The country owns seven tanks, but they were made back in the 1940s. Whether they work these days
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is questionable. In fact, just about all of the country's land vehicles and artillery date
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back to a time when wars were watched on black and white TV. Namibia might have a big budget,
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but it's weapons are very much from another era. For instance, it's said that the country has six
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fighter planes, but they're so old no one's sure if they even work anymore.
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Next is a country which might not have a powerful military, but has faced lots
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of war in its recent past. 7. Bosnia and Herzegovina
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The budget for this military is $165 million, and it has 10,500 personnel in total. The air force
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has zero planes, but it does have some helicopters that were made in the former Soviet Union.
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It actually has 320 tanks and 332 armored vehicles, so you might be wondering why it
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comes this low on the list. The answer is, again, those tanks come from another era. Such as the
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American M46 Patton main battle tank, made in the 50s, and the Soviet T-55, made in the 40s and 50s.
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You can add to that some self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery and some anti-aircraft
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artillery, but still, when you consider that the country has no navy at all,
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we think it deserves the number seven spot.
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Next is a country who's military is so weak, it can't even seize power if it tries to.
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6. Gabon If you don't
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know where Gabon is, it's on the west coast of Central Africa. Its military was pretty busy last
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year attempting a coup d'état. It didn't work. So, when we talk about personnel, no doubt quite
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a few of those guys are new. A lot of people in the military who were pro-coup rans for the hills,
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were shot, or metaphorically speaking went to the chopping block.
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It's actually a tiny military of just 5,000 people, and they are supported
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with a $83 million dollar budget. It has no tanks but does have 70
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armored vehicles. If you take a look at those bad boys, you'll see that 16 of them
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are Panhard AMLs. These French made killing machines were damn good, back when folks were
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blown away by the high-tech game Space Invaders. That's the reason it's so low on the list. Its
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land forces are very, very weak. But one thing it does have is some nice aircraft. It has three
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Dassault Mirage 5s and six Dassault Mirage F1s. They might have been built in the 60s and 70s,
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but they were state of the art back then. The Gabonese navy exists, but the few old
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fast attack crafts and patrol vessels can't do much except scare pirates away.
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Our next country probably as more powerful militias than an official military…
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5. Somalia Back in the late 80s this military
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was on the verge of collapse and then in the 90s it was dissolved. Hardly a professional force,
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its military was accused of murder, assault, looting and all kinds of corruption. Back then
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a foreign diplomat wrote, “The inefficiency of the Somali armed forces is legendary.”
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So, that's not a good look for Somalia. The military did reinvent itself,
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but in a country that has seen so much internal discord it was never easy making things right.
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The budget last year was just over $62 million, and in total there were 20,000 active personnel.
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They were actually very active not long ago, fighting insurgents with some help from the U.S.
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So, unlike some other countries we've mentioned the Somali military
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has seen its fair share of action of late. If you look at what it's got in terms of hardware,
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you'll find there are quite a lot of main battle tanks. Look a bit closer, and you'll see some of
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them such as the British Centurion date back to the second world war. It's the same with
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the armored personnel carriers, they are more museum pieces than formidable fighting machines.
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There used to be an air force, but that all fell apart in the bad old days in the 90s.
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Now it's non-existent. The same goes for the navy. 4. Laos
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Thanks to the U.S, the country of Laos, pronounced without the 's', can say it's
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the most bombed country in the world. To stop the spread of communism, the U.S thought Laos needed
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a bit of hellfire. From 1964 to 1973 the US dropped bombs every eight minutes,
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24 hours a day. Laos was obliterated, and it was all done mostly in secret. A tenth of the
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population died, 98 percent of them civilians. Ok, the history class is over. Laos didn't try
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to build a bigger military after it was partly destroyed, and the reason is there
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just wasn't any money. While it's more built up today, it is still very poor.
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That's why the military budget is just over $18 million.
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Laos actually has a lot of main battle tanks, numbering close to 130. Hmm, you think,
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that's quite a lot. But again, you have to understand that those things are antiques.
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They probably don't get used. The air force consists of utility and transport helicopters
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and the navy only has patrol boats. Laos is not likely to get into a war,
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far from it, but like its neighbor Thailand – a country now buying all kinds of expensive
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military hardware – the military is used against its own people when they stand up
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against corruption. The army, no kidding, has been accused of extrajudicial killing,
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torture, kidnapping, rape, attacks against civilians, and starving minorities.
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That's another reason why Laos is so low on this list. You can't call that good soldiering.
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The next country gets a bad rap, but its soldiers have done some honorable things.
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3. Sierra Leone Back in 2014, soldiers with the
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Sierra Leone military did a commendable job. They helped protect quarantine zones during the Ebola
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Outbreak. That's not a nice disease to have, so you'd think those soldiers were well compensated.
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They weren't. Reports about the military say that it's kind of a
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last stop for people. Back in the 90s some reports said that many of the soldiers were drifters,
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drug addicts and criminals. In the 2000s, privates were earning about 50 bucks a month and
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there was no running water in the barracks. The bathroom was a hole in the ground in a mud hut.
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So, when you bear that in mind, what kind of military do you think the country has.
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It might have a $75 million dollar budget, but if you can't take care of your soldiers, you're
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likely not going to get much professionalism. The military has two T-72 main battle tanks but
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as they are a few decades old it is very doubtful that they work. It also has 13 armored vehicles.
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As for airpower, Sierra Leone has seven helicopters and no planes. Two of the
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helicopters are Mil Mi-24s, vehicles the Soviets once called “flying tanks.”
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The Sierra Leone Navy consists of some very old gun boats and patrol boats. They might
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not have done much fighting, but in 2007 British trained naval officers interrupted a hold-up of
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another boat by some pirates. It turned out the pirates were actually Guinean Naval officers.
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Next up is a country that's hard-pressed to keep its military from deserting.
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2. Liberia This is one small military, with only around
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2,100 active personnel. We say active, but reports suggest that 300 of those people have defected.
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Over the last few decades this country has seen all kinds of conflicts, regime changes,
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and a civil war, and that's not good when you want to build a modern military.
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There isn't really anything modern about Liberia's equipment,
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with the air force consisting of mainly old transport planes. It has one helicopter,
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but that's getting on in years, too. Believe it or not, it has no land vehicles
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at all. In terms of infantry weapons, Liberia has to rely on assault rifles and machine guns.
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There isn't really a navy, either, but it does have a National Coast Guard.
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Finally, our number one country- who unlike the rest maybe needs no military at all!
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1. Bhutan If you look at the Global Peace Index, Bhutan
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is high up on the list. This wonderful country located in the Eastern Himalayas wins all kinds
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of prizes for being peaceful, not being corrupt and generally being a really cool place to live.
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That's likely why it doesn't spend too much cash on its military.
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At $10 million or so a year, Bhutan's military won't be buying any F-35s anytime soon.
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But it does have a military, and in it there are 7,000 personnel. The country is protected
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by India, but that country has been trying to help Bhutan improve its army and air force.
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There's not really that much happening, though, and we can't find any sources
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that talk about Bhutan buying any new weapons. The Royal Bhutan Army has had
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to shoot at people before, notably in 2003 when it took on 3,000 militants.
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In its arsenal of weapons, it has one very old armored personnel carrier,
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mortars, and various kinds of rifles. If the army uses other weapons, they are supplied by India.
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It doesn't have any power in the air, with the air force only owning two Mil Mi-8 transport
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helicopters. This is certainly a very, very small military and would be no match for the NYPD.
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Now you need to watch this, “The Insanely Crazy Story of a Tiny Soldier”. Or have a
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look at this, “How A Soldier Single-Handedly Liberated An Entire German Occupied City.”